This invention relates generally to domestic appliances, and more particularly to a combined clothes washer and dryer unit and a bracket assembly which allows for vertical stacking of washers and dryers, wherein the dryer is of a front loading type and the washer of a top loading type.
It is an advantage to have a washer and dryer stacked one on top of the other because this arrangement allows for savings in space. It also presents extra convenience to the user in loading the clothes from the washer into the dryer by saving steps between the appliances.
There is little problem when the washer is of the front loading type, since the dryer can be fastened directly on top of the washer, which, being much heavier than the dryer, is necessarily on the bottom. However, because of the high cost of front loading washers, top loading washers are far more popular even though they create a problem in providing access to the top of the washer.
One approach to allowing access to the washer top is to mount the washer on rollers and the dryer on a frame resting on the floor surrounding the washer. This requires the washer to be physically moved outward from beneath the dryer to allow access to the top.
Another approach has been to provide a frame in which the washer rests either on the floor or on the frame and the dryer is supported a spaced distance above the washer by the frame, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,454,732 to Burkland et al. and 4,462,225 to Doe.
Still another approach is to build a single integral unit in which the dryer mechanism is positioned to allow the bottom of the dryer cabinet to be slanted inward to allow access to the washer, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,235 to N.A. Menk and B. Brucken.